Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.
My vision for this Lenten season is a time of refocusing my heart and my family.
I always enjoy participating in giving up something I like/enjoy for Lent. usually Mike and I give up some type of food. This year I have decided to give up all the negativities in my life.
This has been a difficult past few months for me; trying to balance out my full schedule of work, school, and family in addition to being faced with negative situations that made me recognize bitterness and anger within me. It is that bitterness and anger that I want to root out, to give up, replace with a giving heart and gentle spirit, which I know makes the true me. With that as the foundation, I purpose also to use this season as a time of cultivating more of my heart in my relationships, and in particular my marriage and children. We all face problems in our everyday lives. Problems can be frustrating, depressing, and can really slow us down on our journey to success. Problems are a great place to start when starting a new chapter in your life and can be opportunities in disguise.
These are just some of the things I will focus on over the next 40 days:
1. Focus. By focus, I mean that I focus on the family. I really find that I enjoy my kids and motherhood in general a lot more when I stop trying to get so much else done. Yes, I have to keep the house clean and my family fed, but when I spend most of my time just caring for and playing with the kids, we all have a better day (even when the sink’s full of dishes).
2. Patience. I’m really, really working on this one. The funny thing about patience is, of course, that even once you’ve become more patient, you get to “work” on it your whole life. It’s not like you just magically wave a wand and nothing ever upsets you again—even if it’s less frequent, our patience isn’t always perfect in this life.
3. Appreciation. Stresses and challenges don’t seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things that are right in your life. I am blessed with a great husband, healthy children, awesome parents, siblings, and some REALLY good friends. Taking time to stop and appreciate all the good things you have make a huge difference.
I’m far from perfect—and honestly, I know I won’t become perfect in this life, and certainly not by my own power—but when I do these three things, I enjoy life more!
Trust me; I have more than enough to get me by the next 40 days and probably beyond. You will have to check back with me in a few weeks to see how I'm really doing!
How will you use this Lenton season?

Ladies Night

Girl’s night was spent out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with a bunch of friends. Hours passed as we drank, ate and shared conversation. Then, the suggestion to go out to a bar was made. It had been a while since any of us had been able to go out all night and just hang with the girls so of course we went!!! We had the BEST time! Dancing, doing shots, laughing at the other dancers and at ourselves, we got crazy! It was so much fun to just be girls. Rolling in at 3 AM sure does a girl good every now and then.

Making a New Change

Today was Sydney’s first soccer practice of the season and I have to say it was a bit sad for me. It was so good to see my soccer mom friends but, this season we have a new coach and a whole new team. There were seven returning players from Sydney’s old Blue Dolphins team, we lost five due to other sports, and there are five new team mates and a new coach. We are now the Blue Lightening’s! When all the girls got to the field they immediately formed two cliques, the returning Blue Lightening girls and the old Blue Dolphins girls, they were all being so shy. They did this during their water break too. The new Coach said he is going to have a different practice next time, more of a socialization and bonding meet so that the girls can get to know each other.

The Blue Dolphin girls have only known Coach Robb so it was sad to see them being coached by someone new. I’m sure he will be a fine coach and I met some really nice moms but, I will always miss the Blue Dolphins team. Coach Robb was a great influence on Sydney, he gave her confidence and praise and our family will always remember him for that. So as I look onto the next season and we hang up our Blue Dolphins Jersey, I will suck up my tears and be the soccer mom I know and love; chatting it up on the sidelines, cheering on the girls, and learning to adjust to something new.

Just Go To Bed Already

In my very busy life, I have days when I really look forward to the kids going to bed. It's the first time all day that I can relax and do something for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids dearly and I love to spend time with them but they are energy sappers and I am an introvert by nature. What I have learned about being an introvert is that I need a lot of down time in order to get rejuvenated and refreshed and ready to go back out into the world of people and energy sappers again. For this reason, bedtime is very important to me. And I am strict about what time it starts.
8 o’clock pm. Sharp. If it goes beyond 8 pm, I have been known to grow fangs and become a bit short-tempered. Sometimes I have days when I wish that bedtime would come a little sooner than 8 pm. But my ability to send children to bed early has been prevented by their increasing ability to tell time and their awareness of daylight and darkness. And I have tried but I get the response of "it’s only 7:57, we have 3 more minutes.”
Even though my bedtime is strict, my kids are not great about staying in bed at 8pm. And they try to stretch out the bedtime process as much as possible. The following is a list of things they have said to me.
Reasons why they can't go to bed yet:
1. I have to go to the bathroom.
2. I need a glass of water.
3. I forgot something downstairs.
4. I have to say good-night to everyone.
5. I forgot to do my homework.
6. I’m waiting for __________ to go to bed…or to get out of the bathroom.
7. You didn’t hug me. (and I already did, at least twice)
8. I can’t find my webkin and I can’t sleep without him.
9. My brother/sister won’t stop talking.
10. I want to watch TV with you.
11. I’m not sleepy.
12. I just want to know who you are talking to on Facebook. Will you say Hi for me?
13. I just wanted to know what you are doing.
14. I forgot to tell you that I love you.
15. What are we doing tomorrow?

Do I give in? NO! But, by the end of it all, I am even more exhausted than I was before.

Friday the 13th

It’s Friday the 13th and this day brings me goose bumps, maybe because I've heard stories about what happens on dates like this, especially in the movies. I have to admit that I believe in some superstitions: I knock on wood to avoid bad luck but, nothing else really bothers me, like broken mirrors, black cats, ladders, etc.

Did you know that a fear of going out on Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia? According to the North Carolina-based Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute, 17 million to 21 million people in the United States have a significant fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by their fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, traveling, or even getting out of bed.The superstition surrounding Friday the 13th is actually a combination of two separate fears — the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. The unlucky number 13 is often left out when numbering houses, flats and hotel rooms and it is generally considered bad luck to start anything on a Friday - a new journey, job, marriage, business project, giving birth, or moving. It's good to know that I am not the only one dreading this day but 2009 has three!!!
It should be an interesting day, I'll knock wood that everyone has an accident-free Friday and fun weekend!

Looking ahead at Valentine's Day

With valentine's day coming up, I keep getting the same question from everyone....what are you doing for Valentine's Day? My response is always this: my husband and I don't really make a big deal of Valentine's Day, but after ten years of marriage, do we really have to?? Yes, keeping the romance alive with your spouse is important even after you have kids, sometimes more so. But, I've never been a big fan of the forced romance of Valentine's Day. We love celebrating Valentine's Day with our kids, who get much more pleasure out of chocolates and flowers than I ever have.
A nice Valentine's Day, or any holiday for that matter, would be ordering in Chinese and watching a movie with the family. It's usually the only time I allow us to eat in the living room. I think of it as an indoor picnic and the kids think it is awesome. So, forget the jewelry and expensive perfumes, I got something even better...I have a wonderful happy family. It's the only thing I've ever wanted and it's all mine now!!!!!

UR 2 SWEET

My friends Julie, Nikki and I had to decorate the bulletin board at work and since Valentines Day is coming up, we had this great idea: we would replicate the sweethearts conversation hearts candy, a traditional must for Valentines day. I know I eat at least one box every year.Anyway we put our heads together and came up with some really cute ideas.The board is not finished yet, Nikki and I cut out big hearts that each of the nurses and doctors are to decorate with a picture of their very own little sweet hearts. I will post a picture of the finished board in a few weeks.Here are the instructions on how to make your very own. My kids are making them to take to class to collect their Valentines.

Supplies:White Rectangle Box(if you do not have a white box, you can paint a cereal box)variety of card stock in pastel colors, make sure to have red and pinkA bold fine tip markerGlueTapeHeart Punches
Instructions:Punch out a variety of different hearts in the various colors and write conversation quotes in all capital letters like on the real ones, such as:

U R CUTE

LUV YOU

YOU ROCK

CALL ME
CUTIE
SWEET HEART, etc.

Cut a heart in the box on one side and glue cellophane paper on the inside of the box, making a window. Use your conversation hearts and tape them to the inside of your window to resemble candy in the box.Now decorate the outside of your white box with pink and red card stock to resemble the outside of a sweet hearts box.These pictures are of a bulletin board, so obviously your boxes will be smaller.